Postpartum Closing Ritual
Referred to as Closing the Bones
The Mexican Postpartum Ritual, referred to in Australia as Closing the Bones. It is an ancient practice from traditional Mexican midwifery (partería), however, similar practices are carried out by traditional midwives in many other parts of the world. I have had the great privilege of learning this ritual from traditional Mexican midwife Naoli Vinaver, with whom I am in ongoing apprenticeship, and I am honoured to be able to offer this ritual to you.
In the Mexican partería tradition, it is said that during pregnancy the aura of a woman undertakes an extreme opening to accommodate the life and soul of the baby to be birthed through her. Birth itself is considered to be the moment of greatest expansion of the vibrational field in all its planes (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual).
The postpartum ritual, traditionally performed during the postpartum period, honours this expansion, and gently offers closure to the new mother as she returns to her own centre and integrates her personal transformation to motherhood. In addition to honouring women during the sacred postpartum, the ritual can also assist with closure after an abortion, miscarriage or loss, to mark the end of breastfeeding, to celebrate menarche or any other significant rite of passage as it helps to close the old in order to give way to a new cycle.
What To Expect
I offer the full version of this ritual/ceremony, which generally takes about 5 hours to complete and involves four different aspects, each designed to warm, nurture, nourish and ground new mothers while honouring and offering closure after birth (or significant rite of passage).
The four elements are as follows: a full body massage using herb infused oil (made by me), a ceremonial herbal steam bath designed to emulate the traditional ‘temazcal’, a period of rest under heavy blankets to encourage the body to sweat and release toxins, and a tightening and closing of the body using Mexican rebozos*.
Please note: Many people offer a variation of this ceremony here in Australia that is just the final step, the closing with the rebozos. However, it is important to carry out the other steps first to ensure cleansing and energetic healing before the closing takes place.
If you have a baby or other children with you, it is important to have someone else present to care for them so you are able to fully relax and be present in ceremony.
Investment: $500
Please note, I am currently only offering this service to mothers I have supported as a doula from pregnancy through to postpartum.
Reflections from a mama who received the nurturance of this ceremony seven years after birth.
I’d always felt that I’d left a piece of my heart in that operating theatre. Just over seven years ago, my pregnant heart felt just like my pregnant belly; expanded like a balloon and ready to explode with love when my firstborn would arrive. But when he landed in that operating theatre, a room bustling with medical staff, the silence was deafening. While his heart contemplated taking it’s first earthside beat, a piece of my heart shrivelled, and froze in my chest. My love balloon had burst and still a small heart belonging to my newborn son remained still.
When that newborn heart finally fluttered to life, he opened his eyes to meet mine. A quick but precious hello, a glance into each other's souls before he was whisked away. And there I stayed. Wounded in so many places. They were the longest seconds, minutes, hours and days in my life. Ambulances, aeroplanes, helicopters, hallway hospital whispers. The separation was harrowing, the guilt engulfing. It was seven days to the minute when we arrived back in our home to begin life as a family of three.
In the years to come, two more babies would arrive to stoke my heart fire and rekindle that warmth. But in the depths of my heart, that sorrowful iceberg remained.
Until today.
The timing was right to make a long awaited journey back into myself, into the deep recesses of a broken heart. A meeting with a long held wound unable to be coaxed out with words alone. That wound would be greeted with empathy and understanding and would be gently melted away by a ritual of love, kindness and warmth.
I didn’t need to go back to the operating theatre to collect my heart, it was tucked away inside of me all that time. It was like my soul was being poured back into me. The deepest tissues of my body became alive again and began to sing. But most importantly, my heart soaked up this gesture of love. The iceberg melted and in its place, my heart felt held, heard and healed.
Thank you.
— Haylee
* The rebozo is a very long, handwoven scarf created by women for women and is native to Mexico. The beautiful traditions of using the rebozo are handed down from mother to daughter and midwife to midwife and they have many uses including carrying a baby, relaxing and repositioning mothers in childbirth, carrying groceries, and ceremonies for important passages of women’s lives. The rebozos I use are crafted in the highlands of Southern Mexico by a local family business, Antama. Antama works closely with local artisans to design and weave limited collections of beautifully crafted rebozos using traditional techniques. I currently have the honour of being the sole distributor of these within Australia, and you can find them here. To learn more about some cultural and historical aspects of the rebozo as well as important considerations for those who use them outside of the traditional setting, I highly encourage you to read a blog I wrote about this a couple of years ago. You can find it here.
Want to learn how to do the Mexican postpartum ritual?
I receive a lot of enquiries from people wanting to learn this ceremony here in Australia, usually referred to as Closing the Bones. I cannot reply to all of these enquiries and don’t teach this ritual myself. If you are genuinely called to learn this and committed to doing so with integrity, I suggest you sign up to my teacher Naoli’s online platform the Art of Birth to learn about this ritual and SO MUCH MORE! You can learn more about this here.
Want to book a Closing Ritual?
If you’d like to book a ceremony for yourself or a loved one, please get in touch here and I’ll get back to you soon.